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David Kennedy, Pioneering Advocate for Methods Proven to Reduce Inner-City Violence, to Speak on November 7

David M. Kennedy, who is widely credited with promoting crime control strategies that have reduced gang and drug-related youth violence in several crime-plagued American cities, will discuss his work on Monday, November 7, 2011, at Rutgers School of Law–Newark. The program, sponsored by the law school and the Rutgers School of Criminal Justice, will be held at 4 pm and followed by a book signing.

In his new memoir, titled Don’t Shoot: One Man, a Street Fellowship, and the End of Violence in Inner-City America (Bloomsbury USA, September 2011), Kennedy describes how a first job assignment on problem-oriented policing inspired a career dedicated to finding a solution to the gang violence that has devastated inner-city communities across the country. Kennedy is best known for the success, since replicated in other cities, of the Boston Gun Project (also known as Operation Ceasefire). Kennedy and colleagues brought together gang members, police officers, and community members for conversations that revealed their shared goal of saving young lives – a realization that led to efforts which resulted in a 50 percent decrease in youth homicide rates in the city.

Kirkus Reviews has called the book “a valuable text—not just for the solution, but also for the refreshing philosophy behind it.” Bill Bratton, former chief of police of the Los Angeles Police Department, said: “The good news about the drug and gang-related violence epidemic is that it can be controlled and substantially reduced. As proof, you have only to read David Kennedy’s wonderful new book, Don’t Shoot.”

Kennedy is director of the Center for Crime Prevention and Control and Professor in the Department of Anthropology at John Jay College of Criminal Justice.

The event is open to the public.

What:

“Don’t Shoot: A Dialogue About Urban Violence”

Who:

David M. Kennedy, criminologist and author of the new book Don’t Shoot: One Man, a Street Fellowship, and the End of Violence in Inner-City America